Migraine
by face like a moon
Summary: Cuddy gets a Migraine, and House appears. Might be out of character, but who really knows what either of them are capable of. Huddy oneshot.


AN: I wrote this because I had a really bad migraine that went away when I took a vicodin, and I thought of House. I don't own House, nothing like that. Read and review if you wish. Smiles

Facelikeamoon

She sat hunched over her desk, her elbows resting on either side of the paperwork in front of her, and her head in between her hands. If you looked closely you could see her fingers were making small circular motions around her temples, and every once in a while a hand would go up and rub the back of her neck. The lights were off, although natural light flooded the room.

Her door burst open and House stormed in. He walked to the center of the room and stopped, waiting for her to look up and give him unspoken permission to speak. Instead, she spoke first "As long as everyone is still alive in the end, nothing is broken and the hospital is still standing in the end, I don't care what you do. Don't you dare slam the door on your way out."

House craned his neck to get a better look at her. He could see the pain in her features, and noticed that her eyes were closed in an attempt to prevent to much light from entering. "Sensitivity to light and sound, low energy, and you're massaging your temples. I am assuming that you have a very bad headache, if not a migraine."

"Yes House, I have a migraine, now please leave me alone. I am not up arguing with you. Go do your tests. Hell, kill your patient for all I care. Just please leave quietly."

For once House actually did as he was told, and Cuddy didn't feel like deciding if that was because he was now given freedom to do what ever he wanted, or if he didn't want to make her feel any worse. She continued to work on her temples and thought about lying down. Anything to make her headache to go away.

Once again, about twenty minutes later, the door to her office opened. The intruder didn't stop, but instead kept walking around to her desk, causing her to look up to see who it was. "What now House?" she asked, slightly surprised that he was not there making loud noises and annoying her.

"Nothing, just relax a little, and eat these." He handed her some salted crackers and moved behind her. She slowly nibbled on one of the crackers while he began to massage her shoulders and neck. After a few minutes of the massage he spoke.

"Why don't you move to the couch? It will be more comfortable, and your headache will go away sooner." Cuddy decided she didn't want to argue and began to move from her desk to the couch. House walked over and handed her some water and four pills.

"What are these?"

"One Imatrex and three Alieve. The Alieve should boost the affects of the Imitrex and make it work faster. Now take them, drink the entire glass of water, and lie down."

Cuddy did as she was told. She was really surprised at how House was acting, but instead of analyzing it, she enjoyed being treated, even if she did have to endure a migraine to get the treatment. House placed an ice pack at the base of her head, and the top of her neck. He used an ace bandage to secure it, wrapping it tightly around her head. "What are you doing?" She asked, really confused, but feeling better all the same.

"Your blood vessels are dilated, which is basically like swelling. Ice and compression will keep the swelling down. You did go to med school, right?"

"Yeah, I went to med school, I just never studied migraines and their random treatments."

House chuckled a little and handed her a cool washcloth. "Put that on your eyes"

"Ok, now what?" Cuddy was lying on her couch, her shoes were off and the top half of her face was completely covered.

"Now you are going to take a nap and I will come back in two hours to check in on you. Lack of sleep in the main cause of migraines, right behind it is low blood sugar, but I'll lecture you later. Now you need to sleep." House walked out of her office, and just before he softly closed the door behind her, he heard her mumble thanks in a thick, sleep filled voice.

"Where have you been? The patient coded! Luckily we got her back, but what the hell were you thinking?" Cameron started yelling at him as soon as he walked into the conference room.

"Something important came up. It was unavoidable. What did the test reveal?"

"It showed a brain tumor. She's in surgery right now, and Wilson is taking the case," Foreman said from the corner of the room.

"Turns out there was family history of brain cancer. They just 'forgot' about their Uncle Earl," Chase said bitterly, annoyed that he had to be the one to pry it out of the family.

"Told you, everybody lies. Good job guys. It's Friday, take the rest of the day off. Go watch TV, or hang out in the clinic and help people, I don't care. Have fun, see you Monday." House dismissed his team and headed into his office. Cameron followed him.

"What happened? Really, why weren't you there to see the test result? The family was depending on you. I had to lie and tell them that you were busy with an emergency patient." Cameron sounded genuinely annoyed.

"If you needed to know, I would have told you. What time is it?"

"One thirty. I need to know when my boss takes off. And why are you letting us go at one thirty? Don't you have clinic hours you want one of us to complete for you? I haven't gone through your mail yet."

"Good bye Cameron. Enjoy your weekend. Trust me, nothing is wrong, and I got out of clinic for the day. Sexual favors work wonders. Wilson will do the mail. Now go." Cameron stood there for a fleeting moment trying to figure out what was going on, but decided against divulging deeper into the subject. She turned and walked out of Houses office into the conference room.

House sat down at his desk and picked up his mail. He was going to be here for a while; he might as well be productive. Twenty minutes later he had finished sorting through the snail mail and moved to the E-mail side of things. After answering all of those as well, he looked up at the clock and noticed it was already two thirty. 'Damn,' he thought, 'going through mail sucks. I shouldn't make Cameron do it all the time.' He stood up and began to rub his bad leg absent mindedly, popping a Vicodin into his mouth. He slowly made his way into the cafeteria, carrying his patient's paperwork in his hand. He picked up a salad, a turkey sandwich, and a bottle of water. He also grabbed a Ruben for himself.

At three o'clock he made his way into Cuddy's office, slowly opening the door and glancing at the couch before he entered. Cuddy was still asleep on the couch, and it looked as if she hadn't moved in the last two hours. House walked over and set the food down on the floor while sitting on the couch. He shook her awake, and waited until she took the cloth off her eyes and looked at him before he began to remove the ice pack and ace bandage from her head.

"How do you feel?"

"Better actually. I can see now, I'm not seeing spots. Head still hurts, but not as bad. What time is it?" She asked when she realized that she had not the slightest idea of how long she had been asleep.

"It's a little after three. Come on, I got you some food."

"Oh no," she exclaimed while sitting up. "I'm still nauseous and really dizzy apparently." She was swaying back and forth a little before House helped steady her.

"Food will make you feel better."

"No, thank you though. I need to get back to work." She tried to stand up but almost immediately fell back onto the couch. "Maybe not."

House had pulled the sandwich out and handed it to her. She sighed and accepted it, knowing that it was one of the only ways to get him to leave her alone. He also handed her the bottle of water. "I don't think you eat or drink enough during the day." He grabbed the Ruben out of the bag and started to eat as well.

They sat in silence for a few moments, during which Cuddy took the time to reflect on the situation. House was there, taking care of her, and helping her deal with the headache she had developed. He was behaving himself, and he had even done his clinic hours for the week. Not to mention the tests he ordered on patients almost always seemed necessary. Either he was getting better at making up the last part, or he was beginning to take the patient into consideration when he was treating diseases. Cuddy took a sip of her water and noticed House was looking at her.

"What?' She asked.

"We have one stop to make and then you are going to go home."

"House, no. I cant go home. Not today. Not right now. Thank you for helping me, but I have already missed enough work. I need to get back. I have paperwork to get though." House held up the paper work on his patient in response to this statement. "As thankful as I am that you did your paperwork, there is still a ton here that I need to do. Thank you for the treatment and the food. If I need anything else, I'll call you."

She started to get up, but House grabbed her hand. "You're not going to get enough work done today. Your migraine isn't gone yet. Just come with me, and I will let you come back Sunday and finish up this work. Its three o'clock on a Friday, if no one has been in here to ask for it, it's not that important and it can wait." He was probably right, and that pissed her off slightly. He saw her give in. "Good, now get everything you're going to need for tonight, and tonight only. Do not take work home with you." Cuddy glanced around her office and grabbed her coat, her shoes and her purse.

House led them out of the office and to the elevators. When they reached the third floor, he walked down the corridor to the Physical Therapy and Chiropractic wing. He rarely came up here, but today it wasn't for him. "You're making me go to PT, for a headache?"

"No, I'm making you go to a chiropractor for a migraine. Hi, I am here with Dr. Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine and Hospital Administrator. She needs to be seen immediately. It's a slight emergency." The receptionist looked a little skeptical, but didn't want to risk her job by challenging the lanky man who had just, more or less, demanded service for the woman who decides on who still works at the hospital and who doesn't. She went for the doctor, returning a few minutes later.

"Greg, good to see you again. Shoulder doing ok?"

"Dave, hey. Yeah, it's doing well. I'm actually here because Dr. Cuddy has a migraine and needs an adjustment. Would you mind giving her one right now, or are you to busy?"

"It's not that important," Cuddy said from a chair behind House. The pounding had returned to her head and she was sitting with her arms around her legs and her head between her knees.

"Follow me please," Dave said, realizing that she was going to need an adjustment, if not a quick massage. She stood up slowly, still a little shaky and dizzy.

"I'm going to run to my office and get what I need. If I'm not back before you are done, wait here for me," House said to her as she headed into the exam room.

Fifteen minutes later, the two were making their way to the parking lot and for once, House was slowing down in order to stay next to Cuddy, not the other way around. They got into the car and House started to drive to her place. When they got there, he helped her inside.

"I think you should take a warm bath without bubble, but with a very large glass of water, and then change into some comfortable clothes. You should probably eat again before you go to bed, but lie low for the rest of the night."

"Are you leaving?'

"Unless you want me to stay."

"Please?" She asked, wishing she didn't need his help, but knowing that it would be a good idea, and she wanted his company.

"Ok, I'll stay."

She showered and changed and he took off his shoes and jacket, and sat on her couch. He was flipping through channels when she returned to the living room where he was waiting for her. "How do you know how to deal with migraines?"

"I'm a doctor."

"No. That was more than anything they every taught us in med school. They used to tell us that they didn't know what caused migraines, and that the patient would just have to deal with the pain until it was over. Where did you learn everything else?"

"I used to get migraines, and my mom used to get them too. She was the one that told me to wrap my head in something. Before ace bandages, we used to use the cord you tie a bathrobe shut with. Then, once doctors began to understand migraines more, I figured that ice would reduce some of the pain by reducing the 'swelling'."

"What about the chiropractor?"

"When your neck gets out of line, blood flow decreases, preventing the swelling from going down. An adjustment works really well to fix that. So does less stress, but that's more of a preventative measure."

"I know, I should distress, but that's really hard. I guess I need to try harder though, I've been getting migraines a lot more frequently lately." House gave her a curious look, almost like he was studying her. "No, I will not be your next case. Besides, I already gave you the diagnosis. It's stress."

"How long have you been getting them?"

"Um… they strated to increase in frequency and intensity about six weeks ago. Why?"

"When was your last round of invitro?"

"Oh, about," Cuddy paused and thought about it. "I guess about six weeks ago. I've been getting them about twice a week since then. It's probably the hormone imbalance."

"Or it's a sign that you're pregnant. Have you taken a test?"

"I'm not pregnant."

"So, you've taken a test?"

"No, but House, none of the other treatments worked, and besides, women who are pregnant don't get migraines."

"Each body reacts to the parasite differently. Take a test."

"It is not a parasite, and if I take a test, will you drop the subject?"

"Yeah, but you need to take the test."

"Ok." Cuddy went into the bathroom and took the test. When she returned she noticed that House had moved into the kitchen and was beginning to pull food out of the fridge. "What are you doing?"

"I'm making dinner. I know you just ate, but you need to eat again, and then you need to go to bed. I'm making chicken caser salad, and you will eat it."

Cuddy smiled. "Thank you, not just for dinner, but for everything."

House looked up and held her eyes. "You're welcome," he said, before returning to the chicken. "Do you want to go look at the test?"

"Can I wait until after dinner?" she asked, her voice almost childlike with nervousness.

"Hey, it's your life. I'm just cooking in it." She sighed as he continued with the preparations. Soon, the food was done and they sat down at the table. Cuddy was quiet during dinner, picking at her food and eating it slowly. House decided she needed space to process what was going on. He knew she was worried, but he wondered what she was truly thinking about. He looked over at her and noticed that she was staring off into space, no longer touching her food.

"Go, look at the test, I'll take care of the dishes." She nodded and got up from the table.

"Greg," she called from the bathroom.

"Yeah?"

"Can you come in here?" She asked.

He set the last dish in the dishwasher and made his way into the bathroom. "What's up?"

"I can't look at it, tell me what it says?" She handed him the stick.

"Really?" she nodded again. "Well, you are going to be a mommy"

"Seriously?" She asked, not really letting herself believe it.

"Seriously."

Cuddy began to cry, sitting there on her bathroom floor between the toilet and the bathtub. "I can't be a mother."

"Sure you can, just not here. Come on, lets get you into your room." Once they reached her room she sat down on the bed and he sat next to her. "You'll be a great mother; you just don't feel well right now. Go to sleep and you'll feel better tomorrow, I promise. Remember, I'm a doctor, I know these things."

"I'm a doctor too you know. But thank you." She began to move back on the bed, getting under the covers. House stood up and started to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"I was going to go home. Why, do you need something?"

"Will you stay, please? I don't want to be alone." Cuddy wasn't sure if she was asking him to stay that night, or for the rest of her life, but either way, she wanted him to stay.

"Yeah, I'll stay." House made his way back over to the bed and sat down again. He pulled off his jeans and got under the covers wearing his t-shirt from the day, and boxers.

"You promise you'll be here?" She sounded like a scared little girl, and House couldn't help but give into the feeling he had in his gut, the one that had been churning all night, and for the last few years if he really thought about it.

"Yeah, I'll be here."

"Thanks." She rolled on to her side, and House slipped his arm around her midsection, pulling her into him.

"I'll always be here."

The End


End file.
